This is a message I shared, at Epicentre West LA, concerning God’s heart and my convictions concerning love for “the Least of These.” It brings together a lot of what I’ve learned over the past decade and I hope it can be helpful to you.
GENERAL TRANSCRIPT OF MESSAGE BELOW
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Good morning spiritual family at Epicentre WLA! Pastor Chris is out of town for a funeral of his Aunt so please keep him in your prayers. My name is Dave Kitani and I am one of the pastors at your sister church on the Eastside, New Life Community Church – Lincoln Heights. Thank you for the privilege of having me over to share God’s word with you all. I’ve gotten to know some of your leaders over the years and it’s been awesome to grow as family together in LA. I’m so excited because starting in 2022, I’m gonna be walking with and helping to lead a joint d-school with our church family, along with Steph from Epicentre WLA and Omar from Hope Church.
Epicentre WLA and New Life have been going through a series on our shared core values: Love for Jesus, Love for the church, and Love for the world. This morning I’d like for us to step in a little deeper and flesh out what this might look like. What would a follower of Jesus look like, not just by appearance but by lifestyle? How would you know if someone is a true follower of Jesus? Dare I go further and ask how would I know if I am “saved”? What do you think?…These are important questions.
At the end of the day I’m not the one who determines the final answer. Jesus does. In this morning’s passage Jesus seems to reveal how He would determine who is with him and who is not. Now this is not the ONLY way, but it’s certainly one of the ways Jesus will know. This can simultaneously be a moving passage but also a terrifying passage.
Please stand, if you are able for the reading of God’s word
SCRIPTURE READING: Matthew 25:31-46 (NIV)
31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’ 46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
PRAYER
In this intense passage, Jesus mentions 6 different forms that he will come to us, representing 6 different types of people we may come across:
- a person who is 1) hungry, 2) thirsty, 3) stranger (the word used here in greek is “xenos” meaning foreigner) 4) naked, 5) sick, 6) and in prison.
- There are so many implications of this that we won’t be able to get into all this morning, but at the very least what do all these people have in common?
- They are all people who are in deep need. These are the people who society often overlooks, the one who Jesus calls “the least of these.”
What is so moving is that Jesus loves these overlooked ones, the least of these, sooo much that He identifies himself with them.
- The ones that society considers the least, Jesus considers the most. The ones that the world puts down, Jesus lifts up. That to see these ones in need is to see Jesus himself. To love the least of these is to love Jesus himself.
- Some have tried to qualify this passage and say that in v.40 “the least of these brothers and sister of mine” means Jesus is referring only to other Christians in need. Now this certainly can include Christians but I would add that it’s broader than that. In the same book of Matthew, ch5:47, Jesus says that if we only love and greet our brothers and sisters, the same word “adelphos” is used, then we are no different than anyone else who doesn’t know God.
Now what is so terrifying about this passage is that to reject or ignore these ones in need, is also tantamount to rejecting Jesus himself. I know the judgment of God is scary. We know that God is loving but we also know God is just. Otherwise, there is no justice for the poor, oppressed, and abused nor accountability for the oppressor.
- loving those in need is ESSENTIAL to being a follower of Jesus and is a fruit of true salvation (v.46).
- by those in need i don’t simply mean those within our family, friends, and race. if that is the case, again, we are no different than non-believers (Luke 6:32). And by those in need I don’t just mean those who may periodically be in such a place of need but rather those who may persistently be in such a place.
- I must also clarify that I don’t believe Jesus is saying we must do good works TO BE saved but rather that we are saved TO DO good works. Eph 2:8-10 (NIV)
8 For it is by grace you have been saved,through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Good works is not the root of our salvation but it is the fruit of our salvation. Jesus also says in Matthew 12 that a tree is known by its fruits (Matthew 12:33)
What is encouraging though is that this same Jesus has loved even us.
- Some of us, our families may have come from places of deep need, were once or still considered “the least of these”. Unless you are Jewish, we were all once foreigners to Jesus.
- Some of us have become so distant from “the least of these”, we have insulated ourselves. But Jesus still loves us, pursues us, and is calling us into a deeper relationship with Him, His way, His heart. So don’t fear, Jesus walks with you.
If we claim to know Jesus, Jesus says we must know His heart for the poor, the least of these. But is this really God’s heart? YES, because we find it THROUGHOUT the scripture. Please check it out for yourselves. The bible testifies that love for the poor is not just a minor note but a major theme of God’s heart. Here’s just a brief overview:
- The law – Deuteronomy 15:11 ESV = For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, ‘You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.’
- The wisdom – Proverbs 14:31 = Whoever oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God.
- The poetry – Psalm 140:12 = I know that the Lord secures justice for the poor and upholds the cause of the needy.
- The prophets Jer 22:16 = He defended the cause of the poor and needy, and so all went well. Is that not what it means to know me?” declares the Lord.
- The gospels – Luke 6:20 = Looking at his disciples, he said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.“
- The early church – Acts 2:44-45 = 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need.
- The epistles – 1 John 3:17 (NIV) = If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person?
MY JOURNEY SO FAR IN LOVING THE LEAST OF THESE
I grew up in an Asian American Christian church. I accepted Jesus into my life when I was in 7th grade. Loving God seemed clear through the church. The loving your neighbor thing was a little vague…something like being nice to people around you, who were mostly people like me. Loving the poor was something I sort of knew casually in my Christian upbringing but at best it was a minor chord…something for some Christians.
My entry into God’s heart for the poor was through teaching. I wanted to be a teacher. I went to UCLA grad school for a degree in education and a teaching credential, a program that happened to have a social justice bent only working with low-performing schools in low income neighborhoods. I was hired at a school called Locke High School, in South LA in a neighborhood called “Green Meadows” one of the most dangerous places in LA, and right next to Watts, one of the poorest neighborhoods in all of LA.
That first year of teaching was the hardest year of my life. It was a shock to my system that people would have to live under such conditions…right here in LA. I was a total outsider and in over my head. This experience made me so desperate for God.
One morning I read Isaiah 1:17: “Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.” This scripture came to life, it jumped out at me and grabbed me. Not all who are poor are fatherless, but so many of my students were “fatherless.” The role sheets revealed different last names from my students and their guardians. God was showing me His heart.
God worked through the students there who taught ME, about justice and loving through overwhelming hardships.
Through 8 years of teaching at Locke, I began to realize that even through there was amazing resilience in my students there was also overwhelming need, needs so much more than I could meet as a public school teacher.
My wife, became a professor at Cal State LA, many of her students came out of neighborhoods like Green Meadows. We were wondering how could these inner city schools ever change for the better? A friend in educational leadership shared with us this idea that for urban poor schools to change the middle class needed to live in these neighborhoods not to gentrify but to reconcile, to share resources.
As Asian Americans it was so hard to conceive of sending our children to such schools. Yet, we couldn’t shake this idea, and soon we began praying about it.
There was a workshop i was invited to about these issues and that is where I met Pastor Chris Rattay who was living in a poor neighborhood with his family and building up a church there. Chris recommended that I join the Servant Partners Internship, if I was seriously thinking about living in the community. SP is a mission organization that seeks to transform communities WITH the urban poor.
In the spring of 2011 I put in my resignation at Locke. And in the fall of 2011 I joined the SP internship at the Lincoln Heights site and have been living in the neighborhood and serving in the church there since the fall of 2011.
Jesus led me to learn and love in a deeper way through and amongst the urban poor. They have modeled for me how to stay present and persevere THROUGH the struggles and pain. This isn’t to romanticize the urban poor for poverty can be terribly inhumane. But I know I still have more to learn from my siblings for they are rich in faith and, according to Jesus, the Kingdom of God belongs to them.
So how do we let Jesus transform us to love “the least of these”?
PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS
- Give generously.
Specifically, invest in urban poor pastors/leaders. We support missionaries, why not local missionaries? Relief is necessary but this should move to development. Those who have lived and served on the ground level know better than us what the needs are and what would be most helpful in developing and empowering people.
Tithing is the bottom floor, not the top floor.
Matthew 23:23 = “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.”
Jesus said that we should STILL do the former (tithing) but not neglect the latter (justice, mercy, and faithfulness).
We want to gloss over this giving part and go to doing. We should do the doing but we cannot ignore the giving. the danger of wealth is that no one thinks they have a problem with it. Of all the rivals to God that Jesus chooses to address he chooses wealth (Matthew 6:24)
2. Live simply.
Selling what we don’t need and give proceeds to the poor or those investing in building up the poor.
1 Tim 6:6-8 = 6 But godliness with contentment is great gain. 7 For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. 8 But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.
Jesus challenges us to consider that where our treasure is there is where our heart will inevitably be.
Matthew 6:20-21 = 20 but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Investing treasures on earth vs. treasures in heaven would like you have a temporary apartment in Paris for a couple months and investing so much stuff into that place when home is in LA. Our lives here is just a dot compared to eternity.
3. Invest relationally
If you are giving generously to urban poor and those who work with the urban poor you will care for them and will pray for them…your heart will go to people.
Cultivating cross-class friendships (to hear their stories, their struggles, their way of life, to actually receive from them what God has put in them). Relationship building is key. And by relationship I mean not one-way relationships but rather relationships of mutuality, where there is giving of life both ways. Real friends. (When I moved from the mentality as only me as the one helping to me opening up my life and being willing and needing to receive from the poor this is when I entered into deeper fellowship deeper trust deeper richer and sweet community.)
- Striking up convos with people and asking them their stories and how to pray for them. Convos with employees of places you frequently visit or even work at. (janitors, cafeteria workers, restaurants, etc)
- Build intentional friendships with people at school / work
- Give your self to structures that put you in contact with the least of these.
The more contact the better bc we tend to compare ourselves to those around us. If the least of these become like family to us, it will cause our caring to be grounded in real relationship and real needs. This will serve as better place from which we can engage the larger systems that effect the poor as well as to stay engaged because, as family, their issues become our issues.
IN CONCLUSION
If we are to follow Jesus, then that means we must follow Him into loving the poor. Jesus will meet us there. Let us be people who give generously, live simply, and invest relationally amongst the least of these.
I am hopeful. i am amazed by the way we care for our own families. Especially as a child of immigrants, the sacrifices our parents make to see we are provided for. i am a recipient of such love and hope to love my children in such a manner. I believe God has put that into us.
But what if we obeyed Jesus and loved our neighbors in need like our own families? what if we loved our neighbor’s children as we did our own?
Then the kingdom of God has come upon us.
treevalley in the inner city 